As the population of international--and particularly Chinese--students grows in US academic institutions, it is critical that writing center tutors be able to address these students' needs. However, whereas writing tutors at the author's institution are often taught to be indirect and focus on higher order concerns, such strategies are not always practical for working with English Language Learners (ELL), who may have writing experiences different from those of native speakers or may have brought perceptions of tutor-tutee roles from their home countries. This essay therefore focuses on suggestions that tutors might consider bringing to their work with Chinese ELL students during "writing partner consultations," her institution's term for weekly, one-on-one meetings between a writer and the same writing tutor for the entirety of the semester. Effective writing partnerships are particularly useful when working with Chinese-native writers, for they allow tutors and writers to focus on both individual papers and long-term improvement. By drawing upon a literature review and a study of two writing partner dyads over a semester, the author concludes that the level of understanding, directness, and transparency between tutor and student affect the success of writing partnerships. By incorporating such suggestions into tutor training, the author believes writing partnerships between tutors and ELL writers can improve.